A New Legacy (HIATUS)
by xxTheTruMan196
Summary: The Earth was once filled with heroes, some of the greatest heroes ever to exist in the universe. However that time has long since passed, and much of that history has been lost. But in these new dark times, a relic of the ancient past appears in the form of a young woman named Sophie Matthews, who must take up her role as a Guardian and defend her new home, forging her own legacy.
1. Prologue

**_Tower, The Last City - Earth_**

**3rd person POV...**

The Speaker slowly approaches a desk stand in his monastery, looking at a heavy book. He carefully opens the page and begins looking over it, his eyes soft behind his mask.

_'Many hundreds of years ago, the last age of heroes ended, with the conclusion of the time period known as the 'Universal Conflict.'_

_'Spread out across the universe, the forces of evil and darkness sought to conquer others. The Sith, the Empire, the Decepticons, great spirits on ancient worlds, and the armies of Thanos, the Mad Titan. Each enemy attempted to further their own goals, some even succeeding.'_

Speaker looks over several pictures of the villains and forces of evil recorded in the history book. He sees a depiction of the Sith, and a Sith temple behind it, though knowledge of how the image was provided is lost to them. He sees a depiction of Megatron, a former Cybertronian warlord, and finally Thanos, the one who caused 'The Decimation.'

_'But those who fought for good, resisted. The Avengers, the Jedi, the Autobots, and many more, all working together or in their own ways for the greater good. And at the center of each group was Jarik Shan, the warrior known all across the cosmos, and the greatest of all heroes.'_

He turns the page to see pictures of the Avengers, and of the Autobots and their allies. He sees an old photograph of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Bruce Banner, Diana Prince, Jarik Shan, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and Doreen Green. This was the first official group photo of the Avengers ever taken, and they were all smiling for the camera, with Doreen making a silly grin and hand gestures.

_'But as the time of peace came with the Mad Titan's defeat, so too did the need for heroes fade. And as life continued on, those heroes became no more, their age ending. And the great legacy of Jarik Shan and Ahsoka Tano Shan, also came to an end.'_

On one of the last pages of this section of history, it shows Jarik Shan standing with his head looking upwards, a green and white owl perched on his shoulder. Behind him is a shadowy form of Ahsoka Tano, appearing like a divine being. The pictures slowly fade away, leaving the page dark.

_'But a new age, was born.'_

Speaker stares at an image depicting three astronauts on Mars, looking out into a great space beyond, and smiles to himself. This is where humanity first discovered the Traveler, and rainfall had already begun on Mars thanks to its influence upon being found.

_'We called it the Traveler, and its arrival changed us forever. Great cities were built on Mars and Venus. Mercury became a garden world. Human lifespan tripled. It was a time of miracles, and technological marvels greater than even that of Tony Stark's inventions or Wakanda's achievements, were developed. We stared out at the galaxy, and knew that it was our destiny to walk in the light of other stars.'_

The next page showcases the solar system, and humanity's achievements upon reaching many other planets in the solar system. But then the next image shows swirling arms of darkness reaching into the solar system, seeking to snuff out the light within the solar system.

_'But the Traveler had an enemy: a Darkness, which had hunted it for eons across the black gulfs of space. Centuries after our Golden Age began, this Darkness found us, and that was the end of everything.'_

The Speaker looks at the next page with a heavy sigh, thinking about it.

_'It was also, a beginning.'_

* * *

Author's Note: _This is a prologue chapter to introduce this story. It will be worked on later in the future._


	2. A Guardian Rises

_**The Cosmodrome - Sokovia - Earth**_

**3rd person POV...**

The fields, mountains, and lakes of Sokovia were once a beautiful paradise, along with everything else on the planet Earth. Nestled in that great landscape were the glittering towers and pristine walls of the Cosmodrome, a place for humanity to set off in ships to explore the universe.

During the Golden Age of humanity, what was once a ruined landscape was instead transformed into the Cosmodrome, a place where people could board ships that would take them beyond the planet's atmosphere, and explore the stars. The Cosmodrome was built over the massive crater left there—which had been a reminder of Ultron's destruction—effectively covering it up, and the landscape was restored.

Now thought, the landscape is once again a wasteland filled with ruins. The Cosmodrome wall is hundreds of years beyond repair, multiple breaches within its surface. The great towers were rusted and nonfunctional, and the waters were unclean and polluted, with no life anywhere. There were no green plants, and the highway that carried hundreds of cars towards the Cosmodrome and back was destroyed, the vehicles themselves rusted beyond recognition.

Despite all this, roving among the terrible wasteland came a small white floating object, moving amongst the wreckage and scanning different areas. It would let out sounds of disappointment before narrowing its single blue optic, continuing onwards.

What it did not realize, however, was that it was being followed.

Peeking over the rise behind the small white object were three humanoid beings with four arms, wearing reddish colored clothing and armor, masks covering their faces except for their eyes. One of them was much bigger than the other two, carrying a heavy rifle in his hands.

His name was Rahn, a Captain of the Fallen House of Devils.

Raising his rifle, Rahn looked through the scope, spotting the small floating object scan a car, then move on. His eyes narrowed dangerously through the scope.

Centuries ago, long before his lifetime his people, the Eliksni, prospered greatly, until the Whirlwind came, destroying everything and leaving his people as broken scavengers. This brought them to Earth, where they found the Great Machine that brought them wondrous life. Now though, it is in the hands of beings called humans, which seemed to have encountered the Whirlwind just like they did. However, the Great Machine protected these humans for some reason, instead of them! Humanity did not deserve its greatness, so they were at constant war with the humans to reclaim their lost god.

Rahn did not know what the white floating machines were called, but he knew what they brought. As such, he would not allow this one to succeed in its task. Giving orders to his two Vandals, he let out a great roar, signifying the start of their hunt, and grinned underneath his ether mask.

* * *

The little machine turned to look behind him, a sense of worry coming over him as he heard Rahn's roar. These past few days he was being hunted by a pack of Fallen, which set him on edge. If he didn't find his Guardian soon…

Shaking away his worries, he pressed on, continuing his scans, although with a sense of urgency. If his Guardian wasn't around here, then he would be forced to escape the area on his own in order to not be caught by the Fallen. He scanned a skeleton laying half inside and on the hood of a rusted car, wincing slightly at the sight.

"Ouch," he says quietly.

Moving up the hill, he suddenly stops and shifts slightly, sensing something nearby. Curious and for the first time, hopeful, he moves closer to where he felt the Light and scans a patch of dirt and crumbled bone next to a car.

"Is it possible?" he whispers excitedly to himself, expanding his body into a glowing blue orb, his white pieces floating around his core.

There was barely anything left but, it was there. The Light shone very brightly, more than he could believe. If he had a mouth, he would have the widest smile on his face for the first time in his life. He focused his Light onto the old remains, bringing them back together to form a humanoid shape.

"There you are!" he exclaims happily.

With those words, he scrunched his body inwards before quickly expanding it with a blinding flash of white, as his Guardian was reborn.

* * *

There was nothing.

Then, there was Light. She groans quietly, slowly lifting her head up as she comes to her senses. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was… what was it? There was a battle... robots were everywhere, and a chilling robotic voice was giving a terrifying speech... what was it?

"Guardian… Guardian? Eyes up Guardian!" a small male voice says in excitement.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the voice, and she blinks repeatedly, looking in front of her. Getting used to the light, she notices some strange floating machine in front of her face, colored white with a glowing blue optic that shines with… excitement?

"W-what?" she croaks out in confusion, voice weak.

"It worked! You're alive!" the machine exclaims happily, not noticing her confused state. "You don't know how long I've been looking for you!"

Focusing on the little machine with her memory coming back to her she frowns thoughtfully, with a look of surprise on her face.

"Are you one of Tony Stark's inventions?" she asks curiously.

The machine stops, confused, and maybe a little offended.

"Huh? I'm not an invention. And who is Tony Stark?" he asks, causing her to blink in surprise.

Who didn't know Tony Stark? The famous Iron Man, and one of the Avengers?! The machine continues to talk.

"I'm a Ghost! Actually… now I'm, your Ghost and you… well, you've been dead a long time. So you're going to see things you won't understand," he says.

"I- wait what?" she exclaims in confusion, a frown on her face. She brushes a strand of her dirty blonde hair out of her face. "How could I be.. dead…"

She trails off in the middle of her sentence, noticing her surroundings with wide eyes. Where was she… what the heck was this place?! She began to hyperventilate, silently freaking out. Noticing her panic, Ghost rushes forwards.

"Hey hey, come on you're going to be fine!" he says reassuringly. "Do you know your name?"

"S-Sophie Matthews…" she chokes out, staring at her shaking hands, flexing them.

"Ok. Well Sophie, I can't entirely imagine what you might be going through right now, but I'll help you however I can ok?" he asks comfortingly.

She shakily nods her head. "Ok."

Ghost takes note of her accent, figuring that she must be of Sokovian nationality, which would make perfect sense considering their location. A sudden roar echoes through the air, startling Sophie and causing Ghost to look down the hill, noticing small figures heading towards them in the distance.

"What was that?!" she yelps in fright, looking around with wide eyes.

"This is Fallen territory. We aren't safe here. I have to get you to the City." Ghost says urgently, turning to her.

Looking at the ground, he scans a strange glowing piece of twisted metal, causing it to dissolve and reform into the shape of a helmet her size. It was a simple tan color, and Sophie then noticed she was wearing light armor pieces from shoulder to toe with a brown color scheme. It wasn't the comfiest thing she had worn, but it fit her perfectly, feeling comfortable enough and outlining her figure.

"Here, put this on," Ghost says, gesturing to the helmet.

Sophie does so, pulling it over her head and tucking her hair into it, the helmet snapping on with a satisfying click. Bobbing in approval, Ghost moves closer to her.

"Now hold still," he commands, floating towards her face before disappearing in a blue flash. She whips her head around in alarm.

"Ghost?!" she says fearfully, afraid of being left alone in this unfamiliar and scary place.

_"Don't worry, I'm still with you,"_ his voice says in her head, making her jump in surprise.

"Where are you?" Sophie asks nervously.

_"I'm in your head, alright?"_ he replies, slightly exasperated. _"I'm not going anywhere."_

Sophie's a little unsettled at everything that's going on: waking up in a frightening new place, having a strange talking machine dissolve into her brain, and apparently learning that some strange creatures called 'the Fallen' are after her. Still, this 'Ghost' at least seems to be helping her, and it's not like she has any better options.

Hopefully this is all just a crazy dream. Maybe she's dreaming about Halo? As a girl gamer enjoys that game, plays it often. Jokes around with her friends as well about the whole 'girl gamer' memes…

_"Focus Sophie!"_ Ghost exclaims, and she jumps in surprise.

"Ok… ok," the Sokovian girl whispers to herself, taking a few heavy breaths.. "What do I do?"

_"We won't survive long out in the open like this. Let's get inside the Wall,"_ he says.

Sophie looks over at the massive broken down wall standing about a hundred feet away, sighing to herself. Glancing over where she heard the roar, she takes her chances and then sprints for the wall. Seeing a small set of stairs leading to a door, she makes her way to it and enters the Wall. A light on her helmet suddenly shines, illuminating the dark area.

_"Okay, I need to find you a weapon before the Fallen find us,"_ Ghost says.

"But, I don't know how to-" she starts to protest.

Something suddenly makes a loud clang above her, and she flinches with a quiet yelp of fright.

_"Quiet! They're right above us!"_ Ghost whispers scoldingly.

Sophie keeps her mouth shut and continues walking down the rusted corridor, illuminated by the orange setting sun, before reaching another short flight of stairs. As she moves to walk up them, she suddenly sees a large, bug like figure crawling up a rusted pipe just behind the broken wall, and freezes with fear.

"Ghost… What was that?" she whispers.

_"A Fallen. We need to move,"_ he urges.

Swallowing nervously, she nonetheless continues onwards, cautiously moving deeper into the wall. She walks up the old stairways and trudges through dark corridors, flinching at every sound and creak of metal. Eventually, Sophie walks through a small entryway and comes out into an open space. She's standing on a catwalk, the darkness surrounding her making everything empty and dangerous. She can't see anything around.

"What now?" Sophie asks nervously.

Ghost materializes in front of her, and she jumps in surprise before calming herself down. Ghost illuminates himself in a ball of white light, and starts hovering around the empty space.

"Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark. We won't. We need more light. I'll see what I can do," he tells her.

As Ghost hovers through the empty space, illuminating a few pipes and walls in the dark, Sophie glances around anxiously. The idea of something popping up and attacking her is at the full front of her mind. As she glances back over at Ghost again, she freezes when the light briefly illuminated another alien, who quietly slips out of view. Ghost doesn't seem to notice, and instead starts shooting blue beams of energy into an old control panel.

"Another one of these hardened military systems and a few centuries of entropy working against me," he mutters.

The empty chamber then becomes revealed as Ghost activates the power, briefly blinding Sophie. When she blinks the dots out of her vision, she gasps in fear at the sight of several Fallen growling and snarling on a nearby bridge, looking right at her. Ghost quickly shoots back over to her, a pair of flying robots in casual pursuit.

"They're coming for us!" he exclaims.

Ghost materializes back into Sophie's head as she backs away in a panic, stumbling into a closed gate. The gate then lifts up courtesy of Ghost, and she wastes no time in rushing inside.

_"Here! I found a rifle! Grab it!"_

Sophie's gaze falls onto an old looking assault rifle that's leaning against a storage crate, and she swiftly picks it up. She looks over the rifle, fumbling with it before holding the gun in what she believes is the proper way.

_"I hope you know how to use that thing,"_ Ghost comments.

"I tried to tell you, I don't!" Sophie replies anxiously.

_"Oh… well I'm no expert on weapons either, but here's a crash course: you turn off the safety button, aim, and pull the trigger to fire!"_ he says.

"What's the safety?" she demands, fumbling with the gun awkwardly while moving through the dark corridor.

_"That switch on the side."_

Sophie spots the safety and then flicks the switch, setting it into firing mode. She then tightens her grip on the rifle and continues on her way, turning around a corner. At the far end she suddenly spots movement of a creature slinking out of view

_"What was that?"_ Ghost whispers.

"You're asking me?" she asks incredulously.

Keeping hold of her nerves, she tightens her grip on her rifle and then cautiously moves forwards again. When she turns the corner she quickly aims the rifle, only to spot no one here.

When Sophie starts to move forwards again, the ceiling above her is suddenly blown open as a creature drops its way through, snarling and shrieking at her. Sophie yelps and stumbles back in surprise, prompting the Fallen to strike.

The lowly dreg scurries forwards and pulls out an electric knife, swinging it at her. Sophie just barely manages to get out of the way of the slash, aims her rifle, and then shoots. The dreg screeches in pain as the bullets impact against its skin before collapsing to the ground, dead.

Sophie stands frozen for a moment, eyes wide at the realization that she just killed something.

_"Keep moving Sophie!"_ Ghost urges.

She shoves away her fear and unease, telling herself that the aliens are trying to kill her. It's either kill or be killed right now. Shaking her head, Sophie begins moving again, jogging down the winding hallways. Turning around a corner, she spots two dregs that shriek at the sight of her, and begin shooting their energy pistols. Sophie quickly ducks for cover against the wall, and as the dregs rush forwards she peeks out and aims with her rifle, shooting them down in a hail of bullets.

_"You should reload your rifle,"_ Ghost advises.

"And how do I do that?" she asks.

_"Pull out the clip, and I'll give you a new one to place into rifle!"_ he tells her in exasperation.

Sophie does so, and then blinks in surprise when a new magazine appears in her hand. A little confused, she nevertheless puts the magazine back into the gun, and continues on her way.

_"There's more ahead! Keep it up!"_

"Doing my best!" she replies anxiously.

Sophie makes her way down the hallway when the roof burst open again, depositing a much bigger Fallen, this one having four arms. Sophie yelps in surprise, and it growls at her, holding two sharp swords that spark with electricity.

_"A vandal!"_ Ghost recognizes, although not being very helpful.

Sophie aims her rifle and fires, but the vandal swiftly ducks away from her shots and scurries forwards on the ground like an insect. It then pops up in front of her and swipes a sword, smacking her rifle out of her hands. She gasps in alarm, and is then shoved to the ground when the vandal punches her with one of its arms.

The vandal shrieks victoriously and starts jabbing at her with its swords. Sophie rolls from side to side desperately to avoid the swords, crying out fearfully as she attempts to crawl away. One sword is then stabbed into the ground inches from her helmet, and she stares at it with wide, terrified eyes.

_"Sophie, do something! Don't let the thing kill you!"_ Ghost exclaims.

Roaring, the vandal raises an arm with the intent of stabbing her through the chest. Acting on instinct, Sophie thrusts our her palm and smacks the vandal in the chest. To both of their surprise, glowing purple energy swirls around her hand and is then expelled when she hits the vandal, knocking it several feet away.

Sophie looks at her hand in shock, confused and bewildered at what just happened. The outraged growl of the vandal brings her focus back, and it charges at her, swiping its swords through the air. Sophie ducks underneath the swords and tumbled to the side. Coming up behind the vandal, she brings her hand back and then thrusts her palm out again, hitting its face as it turns to face her. Like before, swirling purple energy is expelled from her hand like magic.

The vandal is sent hurtling through the air from the hit, slamming against the wall with a pained screech before lying motionless on the ground, it's head seemingly burned to a crisp, it's skull caved in.

"Whoa… how did I do that?" Sophie asks in amazement.

_"That was your melee ability. All Guardians have a certain power based on their subclass,"_ Ghost says cheerfully.

"My subclass?" she asks, confused.

_"You're a warlock! Your melee ability is Energy Drain, which lets you take energy from enemies to increase your other abilities."_

"Other abilities?!" she asks again, baffled.

The sound of Fallen roaring and growling in the distance stops Ghost from saying whatever he was about to say.

_"You know what, I'll explain later. We need to get out of here,"_ he reminds her.

Heeding his advice, Sophie picks up her rifle from the ground and then continues down the hallway, being a lot more cautious. She still can't get over how she has some strange magical abilities now. Is she one of those special people, like the Avengers or something?

But still, where is she…? How could she have possibly been dead?

Another small group of dregs pulls Sophie out of her thoughts, and they shoot their shock pistols at her. Sophie ducks away from the blue laser blasts and retaliates with her own fire, swiftly taking out the dregs. She even manages to score a headshot, and when she does the dreg's head explodes in a cloud of purple vapor.

"For creepy alien people with laser guns, these guys suck," Sophie comments.

She gives the headless dreg a look of unease and disgust, walking past it and shivering slightly.

_"Dregs aren't tough at all. They're basically cannon fodder for the Fallen,"_ Ghost explains.

"You don't say," she replies dryly.

_"Oooh, look! A loot cache!"_ Ghost says excitedly, and she looks down to see a small crate right in front of the stairs leading down. _"Let's see what's inside."_

Sophie grabs the lid of the loot cache and lifts it up. Inside she sees a shotgun, raising an eyebrow at it.

"That looks dangerous," she says.

_"It certainly is! It's a Preacher MK.22, a close range, heavy shelled-"_ Ghost starts to explain.

"Yes I know what a shotgun is," she dryly responds. "But I can't carry both guns."

_"Sure you can! I'll just place it into your inventory!"_ he replies.

"My inventory…?" she asks, widening her eyes when the shotgun dissolves into nothing right before her eyes. "Whoa! Where did it go?!"

_"I turned it into digital matter and placed it into your inventory. It can carry tons of things, and I can switch out whatever you'd need in an instant,"_ Ghost says proudly.

"How does that even work?" Sophie asks, before shaking her head. "You know what, forget it."

Sophie makes her way down the steps, disregarding the now empty loot cache. What she finds when turning around the corner though, makes her stop in her tracks. Several red lasers protrude from small devices stuck into the wall, emitting a faint humming noise. The hallway is covered with them.

_"Trip mines! Don't touch them!"_ Ghost warns.

Sophie gladly follows her advice, and carefully makes her way past the trip mines, edging alongside walls or crawling underneath the beams. When she comes out on the other side she breathes a sigh of relief, and walks through a door at the end of the hallway.

She instantly comes to a halt, widening her eyes in shock as she enters a larger room, filled with crates and rusted barrels, and a square pillar standing in the center of it.

The small force of at least a dozen Fallen also come to a halt, staring back at Sophie in momentary surprise. Both parties keep staring for another few seconds before the Fallen begin growling. There are eight dregs and four vandals, a few more probably in the room as well.

_"Oh... this is bad,"_ Ghost says meekly.

As one, the Fallen all roar out a battlecry and either fire shock pistols or charge at her. Sophie makes a mad dash to the side of the rom where there weren't as many Fallen, ducking behind a large storage crate. She peeks up and shoots her rifle at a few dregs, swiftly taking them out. While she's reloading, a dreg leaps over the crate for her with a knife out, and she thrusts her palm out to kill it with her melee.

A vandal then charges around the crate and throws out a fist, knocking her to the ground. Sophie grunts in pain and scrambled back as the vandal advances, her weapon out of reach.

"Ghost, shotgun!" she cries out.

_"On it!"_

The vandal shrieks, leaping at Sophie with claws extended. A shotgun then materializes into her hands and, reacting purely out of reflex, she pumps the shotgun and sprays the vandal full of heavy bullet shells. The vandal is blown back, and Sophie scrambled back to her feet.

"Woah!" she exclaims, awed by the force of the gun. "Take this!"

She charges at a few Fallen and starts spraying shotgun pellets everyone, swiftly killing all of the dregs in one shot. Another vandal takes a swipe at her with its swords, but she ducks away from it and then blasts it in the chest.

The last two vandals roar in outrage and bring out their own rifles, shooting flowing bolts of energy at her. Sophie attempts to dodge the bolts, but one of them strikes her in the shoulder and caused her to shout with pain, seeing a large burn mark. She gasps, her bravado quickly fading and drops to one knee from the pain, clutching and her shoulder.

_"Sophie!"_ Ghost says worriedly.

Blinking away her tears of pain, Sophie raises her shotgun and shoots the vandal, but the gun clicks empty. The vandals screech in triumph, pulling out their swords and stomping over to her. Sophie casts the gun away and backs up in fear, thrusting out her palm again. It stumbles backwards, but the second vandal slashes her arm with its sword.

Sophie screams in pain again and scurries back in fear. The vandal raises its sword to strike the killing blow, but Sophie kicks her feet out with a cry, knocking the vandal back. She scrambled for her rifle, picking it up and pointing it at the vandals. The first one she hit charges at her with a growl, and she opens fire with a wild spray, killing it. Getting back to her feet, Sophie screams as she charges at the remaining vandal, punching it with her Energy Drain.

The vandal screeches as it dies, falling to the ground with its energy completely sucked away.

With the fight over, Sophie's adrenaline fades and she starts to whimper in pain, her shoulder burned and a deep slash cut across her arm. Ghost then materializes out and hovers in front of her, worry clear in his bright blue optic.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright!" he says.

"How?!" she demands through tears, wincing heavily at the pain.

In response, Ghost shines a bright light over her wounds, and Sophie gasps in surprise when her wounds starts to heal, disappearing as if they never existed within a few seconds. The pain is gone, and her robes are also repaired.

"How…" she breathes out in amazement.

"You're a Guardian, and I'm a Ghost. I can heal you from just about everything using the Traveler's light," he explains happily.

"...the Traveler?" she asks.

"You don't know-? Oh boy… there's a lot you need to learn about…" Ghost sighs. "Now let's go!"

He disappears back into Sophie's mind, leaving her confused and amazed at what happened with her healing. Remembering the situation she's in prompts her to get back to her feet. She picks up her Khvostov rifle, and Ghost takes the shotgun back into her inventory.

Seeing a door, Sophie walks through it and makes her way down a cement pipe towards the exit.

_"The Fallen have a tighter hold on this place than I thought,"_ Ghost remarks with unease. _"Just a little bit further. Let's hope there's something left out there…"_

Walking out of the dark cement pipe, Sophie finds herself now inside of the cosmodrome at a place called the Divide, which is a wide open plain of old grass. Several abandoned structures litter the area, and in the distance are incredibly massive towers shaped with huge spheres, where ships would've been launched.

"What is this place…?" Sophie asks quietly, moving forwards into the open space

_"This was an old Cosmodrome,"_ Ghost explains. _"There's got to be something we can fly out of here."_

"This place is huge," she murmurs, walking through the open yard.

Several quick booms interrupt the echoing silence, and the night sky is lit up as four red flares are shot into the sky.

_"Incoming!"_ Ghost says in alarm.

Far above the Cosmodrome in the air, the sky suddenly seems to warp and shift, and a massive ship emerges from the distorted air in a bright flash: a Fallen Ketch. Moments later the shockwaves resulting from the emerging Ketch reach Sophie, and she flinches from the loud boom. Alongside the ketch appear several smaller ships, which quickly make their way towards the surface. She gapes at the size of the Ketch, fear building in her as the Fallen fly closer.

_"Fallen ships! This close to the surface?!"_ Ghost exclaims in shock.

"They're are bigger than those flying Chitauri whale… things!" Sophie gapes.

_"Chitauri? They've been extinct for centuries!"_ Ghost replies in confusion, much to her bewilderment. _"Anyways, we need to move now! No doubt they're trying to get to us!"_

Sophie doesn't bother voicing her confusion or arguing: everything about what's happening right now is already confusing enough. Spotting a warehouse up ahead that Ghost seems to be directing her too, she begins to sprint across the open field.

A dropship suddenly flies over to her, and begins shooting explosive energy bolts. Sophie stumbles as one impacts near her, and then ducks into a small ditch on the ground in a desperate attempt to avoid fire. It quickly stops though, and she looks up to see several Fallen materializing onto the surface.

"Great," she mutters.

Asking for her shotgun, Sophie fumbles with it for a moment as she works to reload, managing to get the large shells into the loading slot. Cocking the shotgun, she gets up from the ground and runs at the Fallen, who begin screeching at her. She blasts a vandal point blank as it leaps for her with slashing swords, and then shoots a dreg. The others fire their shock pistols, but Sophie manages to evade them with speed that even surprises her, and then rushes up to them. She shoots one dreg down, and another comes forwards to slash her with its knife. She ducks away from it and then smacks it bluntly the head with her shotgun, before shooting it down.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," she says hopefully.

No sooner had Sophie said that, than a blue laser struck against her abdomen, causing her to cry out in pain, stumbling backwards. She looks up, spotting two vandals on the roof of a small structure, shooting long-ranged lasers at her. Sophie groans in pain and hides behind the mound of dirt, where all of the dead aliens were laying.

"Come on!" she groans, wincing. "Ow…."

_"I've got you, just keep shooting them down!"_ Ghost says, and her injuries begin healing on their own.

"Easier said than done," she retorts, flinching away as a laser impacts against the dirt near her, spraying dirt into her face. She takes a deep breath and starts muttering reassurances to herself, and switches her shotgun for her assault rifle.

"Ok Sophie… you got this. It's just like playing Halo…" she murmurs, tightening her grip on her gun. "Just aim, and fire. Aim and fire."

Steeling her nerves, Sophie pops up from her cover and turns around, raising her rifle. The vandals are far away, but looking through the cracked scope she lines up the shot for one of the vandals and then squeezes the trigger. Bullets rain from her gun and slam against the vandal, causing it to stumble back. She struggles to keep holding her rifle in place, the recoil knocking her off, but she manages to kill the vandal. The other vandal roars angrily and fires another shot, which she ducks away from. Doing the same thing, Sophie manages to take out the second vandal as well, although misses several shots due to the range.

She sighs in relief and then continues rushing over to the warehouse, glancing nervously at the ship's flying overhead.

_"What's Halo?"_ Ghost asks.

"It's a video game…" she starts before thinking about it. "Actually, it's pretty much like what we're doing now. Aliens invade earth, and the player has to fight them off."

_"But this is real life!"_ he replies.

"Oh really? I never noticed!" she bites back.

Sophie moves to enter the warehouse, but a flock of hovering robots appearing from inside stop her dead in her tracks, and she quickly aims her rifle at them.

_"Shanks!"_ Ghost identifies unhelpfully.

The shanks start shooting lasers at her with their turrets, and she hides behind a metal crate, peeking out to shoot a few down. Pulling her head back to avoid being shot, Sophie suddenly feels a strange feeling coursing through her arm, and purple light starts to glow in her hand in the form of a ball.

"Ghost?" she asks nervously.

_"Throw it!"_

Sophie glances out and chucks the ball of purple light, which lands right in the center of the Shank swarm. Instantly the light expands into a swirling void vortex, engulfing the Shanks. They begin to sputter and fall to the ground as the vortex grenade damages them, becoming disabled beyond repair.

"Whoa, What was that?" she asks in amazement.

_"That was your vortex grenade! You've now reached that ability! When you get stronger you'll be able to craft different types!"_ he explains excitedly.

"...huh," she remarks.

_"Oh, wonderful!"_ Ghost suddenly says hopefully. _"I'm picking up signs of an old jumpship. That could be our ticket out of here!"_

"That's the first good news I've heard all day!" she replies.

Reloading her assault rifle, Sophie makes her way into the warehouse, following the trail Ghost is setting for her in her helmet in the hopes of locating a ship to escape in.

* * *

Rahn growls with controlled rage, infuriated by what has been happening so far. Barking at his troops, they continue crawling over the old starship in the search of machine parts, while others stand guard. As for him, he was standing in the center of the room with his shrapnel launcher, waiting for the enemy.

The little machine of light has just resurrected a new Light Warrior: the so-called 'Guardian.' That Guardian is completely new and inexperienced, a pitiful excuse for their ranks. Killing her should be easy! And yet it's proving to be the exact opposite, and his forces are being humiliated by her! And Rahn is furious: angry with his minions for being so pathetic, and with the Guardian for refusing to die.

But he would make sure she does. The House of Devils will not be brought down, least of all by a newborn runt! He will end her life, that he is completely sure of.

Or he'll die trying. Nothing less.

* * *

Sophie steps cautiously through the dark hallway, now getting very close to the ship from what Ghost was saying. She's already passed through several small control rooms, killing a few Fallen stragglers.

_"It's just up ahead!"_ Ghost states.

Smiling in pure relief and joy, Sophie takes off at a jog in the direction of the ship, and enters a small docking bay. Hanging from the ceiling in a bunch of loose cables is an old, worn out Arcadia Class Jumpship. Sophie just about cries in relief before skidding to a stop, seeing a much larger Fallen standing right in front of it.

The large Fallen growls at her, holding a large weapon in its hands. Like the vandal it has four arms, along with two swords hanging from its waist. However this Fallen is at least double the height of a vandal, if not taller. On his head is what looks to be a crown of some sort, and hanging from his back is a crimson colored cape, most likely a sign of rank.

_"Uh oh… that's a Captain. Very tough,"_ Ghost says nervously.

"Light-bearer!" he growls out.

Sophie widens her eyes in surprise. "You can speak English?!"

"Your primitive language is most revolting but, yes, I can speak it," he grunts.

"Well, what do you want from me?" Sophie demands, putting on an air of bravado.

"What do we want? We want what you humans STOLE from us!" the Captain snarls. "The Great Machine came to us, gifted its glorious power so that we could prosper!"

"Great Machine?" she asks in confusion.

_"I think he means the Traveler,"_ Ghost says.

"I don't know what that is either!" she hisses back at him.

"You humans do not deserve its protection! You are not worthy to touched by its blessing! It should've protected us! Not you!" the Fallen Captain roars. "And you shall be punished for killing Eliksni."

"That's not my fault!" she argues. "Besides, you guys attacked me first!"

"So you say, Light-bearer," he growls. "I am Rahn, and I shall deliver your judgement!"

Rahn then barks and growls in his own language, and a chorus of howls fill the room. Vandals and dregs pop out from hiding and make a rush for Sophie. Caught off guard, she stumbles back and lobs a grenade at a group of dregs, which are caught in its burning vortex and killed.

"Ghost, shotgun!" she cries out.

Her assault rifle disappears and is replaced by her shotgun, which she swiftly aims at a jumping vandal. She guns it down, and hits another vandal with her Energy Drain. Rahn then starts shooting his shrapnel launcher with angry grunts, firing glowing shrapnel at her. Sophie ducks to the side and makes a dash for a large pillar, hiding behind it. A dreg runs around the corner, and she blasts it before it could swing its knife.

She peeks her head out and then guns down the next two vandals that try jumping at her with swords raised. Catching sight of Rahn, Sophie moves out of cover and charges at him. He fires his shrapnel launcher, but she ducks out of the way and shoots her shotgun. Rahn stumbles backwards as the bullets impact against his armor. Raising her shotgun, Sophie squeezes the trigger for the finishing blow.

An empty click has her widening her eyes in horror.

Rahn instantly retaliates by throwing out a fist, punching her in the head. Sophie goes tumbling back with a cry of pain, losing her grip on her shotgun. The Captain roars before shooting his shrapnel launcher at her, and she rolls out of the way. As she tries to get up, Rahn is instantly on her again with a snarl. He grabs her armor and effortlessly lifts her off the ground, throwing her against the pillar.

She lets out a scream of pain when she feels something in her arm snap. She whimpers in agony, slowly looking up as Rahn approaches. The Fallen Captain chuckles in satisfaction, leering over the wounded Guardian.

"Such a shame. You only had a few minutes of your new life," he scoffs in contempt. "Though I must say I'm doing you a favor."

Rahn pulls out one of his swords and raises it over her, preparing to stab it straight through her skull. Clenching her fist tightly in her unbroken arm, Sophie struggles past the pain with gritted teeth, and glares up at him. Yelling, she thrusts her palm out as he swings his sword down, expelling a heavy hit with her Energy Drain ability. Rahn stumbles back with a pained gasp, missing his swing by only a few inches and dropping his sword.

At the same time Ghost heals her broken arm, and she yelps in pain as the bone snaps into places. Tentatively moving her arm, she looks on in amazement at finding it completely healed, as if nothing ever happened. Rahn roars furiously and charges at Sophie, his claws extended on all four arms. Acting on instinct, Sophie rolls out of the way as he swipes two arms, his claws shredding through the cement pillar like nothing. Her assault rifle materializes into her hands and she wastes no time in shooting at him.

To her surprise however, Rahn suddenly begins to teleport a few feet, avoiding her shots.

"That's not fair," she mutters to herself.

She rapidly switches her aim to try and hit him again, but Rahn just keeps teleporting, getting closer to her. Eventually Sophie's magazine is emptied, and Rahn seizes the opportunity to lunge forwards, smacking the rifle out of her hands. He then wraps a clawed hand around her throat and effortlessly lifts her off the ground, beginning to choke her. Sophie gasps in pain, pulling desperately at his hand as he restricts her airways. She thrashes in his grip, and Rahn chuckles again, raising another arm to slice her open with his claws.

Pulling her feet up, Sophie kicks his chest as hard as she could to dislodge herself, and she collapses to the ground as he loses his grip on her. Rahn brings his arms up and then swings them down, about to plunge his claws through her body. His attacked is suddenly halted as his own sword appears buried in his chest, the electric blade sizzling and burning his skin.

Rahn looks down in shock, finding Sophie holding his sword, which she had grabbed after falling to the ground. Unable to speak, Rahn slowly topples lifelessly onto his side, dead within moments. Sophie pants heavily, sitting down on the ground with an arm laying on her bent knee, completely exhausted from the hard and extremely painful fight. Ghost then materializes into view beside her, his optic looking between her and Rahn in amazement.

"You did it! You killed a Fallen Captain!" he exclaims excitedly.

"Yeah... that sucked," she heaves, hanging her head. "Are all Captain's this hard?"

"Usually. And there is a lot of them," he replies, and she starts to groan. "But that's not something to worry about! This was your first fight against a Captain! After some training it's a lot easier to beat these guys! Experienced Guardians can mow Captain's down like cannon fodder, so you'll get there in no time!"

"Yeah right," she scoffs.

"So pessimistic," he mutters in response, turning towards the ship. "Alright, let me see if I can get us out of here."

Ghost flies over to the ship, and Sophie watches him go before forcing herself to her feet with a groan. Sparing one last look at Rahn, she slowly makes her way over to Ghost as he scans the ship, picking up her two fallen weapons along the way.

"It's been here awhile. Hasn't made a jump in centuries. We're lucky the Fallen haven't completely picked it clean," he comments.

"Will it fly?" Sophie asks.

Ghost turns around to face her, his blue optic lighting up. "I can make it work."

He hovers towards the hull of the ship and then disappears inside. Sophie waits anxiously for a few moments, joy and relief filling her as the ship hums to life. Orange flames burst out of the thrusters, and the cables detach as the ship shudders, the hull creaking for a moment before it stabilizes, hovering in the air. Sophie stares at it in awe, having never seen a ship or a plane hover like that before, much less the fact that it's an actual spaceship. And she's gonna fly it!

_"Okay, it's not going to break orbit, but it just might get us to the_ City," Ghost informs her. _"__Now, about that transmat..."_

A loud roar echoes down the tunnel, causing Sophie to freeze up in fear. The roar itself sounded much louder than Rahn's. Turning around, Sophie sees two vandals crawling out of the large dark pipe, and from behind them emerges a massive figure that completely dwarfs the vandals, and in fact even makes Rahn himself look small.

Her first view of the huge Fallen are its many glowing red eyes, followed by its large, clawed hands. It climbs out of the pipe and looks directly at her, growling deeply in its throat. When it jumps out and stands to its feet, she gets a good look at it. The huge Fallen is wearing gray armor and a red cape, which flows over the front of its body. A huge two-pronged crown adorns its head, and in its hands is a shrapnel launcher bigger than Rahn's. The insignia on its cape identifies it as an Archon: a Fallen priest.

"Uhh... Ghost?" Sophie asks meekly, backing up in fear.

_"Bringing you in!" _he says.

Sophie almost welcomes the sudden sensation of her body disappearing, and then finds herself looking at the inside of the ship's cockpit, where she was seated in a chair. Ghost lifts the ship out of the docking bay, directing it into the sky. The two vandals shoot their wire rifles in an attempt to stop them while the Archon quietly watches, stomping forwards.

_"We can come back for them when you're ready. Let's get you home," _Ghost says.

"Home..." Sophie murmurs glumly.

She looks around at the landscape from her view in the ship's cockpit, finally getting a good look at her old home. She recognizes the mountains and lakes, but what was once a beautiful Sokovian countryside, filled with lush forests and snowcapped mountains, is now a desolate wasteland. The city she remembers is completely gone. Replacing it are destroyed walls and ruins she doesn't even recognize, and what natural life did existed seemed diseased and polluted, leaving the whole place uninhabitable.

Sokovia has been Sophie's home for all of her life... and now it's gone.

* * *

From the roof of Dock 13, she watches as the new Guardian's ship rises into the sky, the thrusters causing her cape to flutter in the wind. The presence of a Fallen Archon right beneath her means nothing, and once the jumpship disappears from view she makes her own exit as well.

She knows plenty about who this new Guardian is, has seen even seen her before; though not in person. But what she does know is that this Guardian is the key to humanity's survival.

* * *

**_Ghost14lebi:_** _Lot's of years, I'm already calling it haha. If I don't finish everything by 2021 then there will be a two year long break because I'll be unable to write during that time (church missionary)._

**_Guest:_**_ She's a custom Guardian, and it follows the game story as you can see. :)_

**_Shadow Solaris:_**_ Yup, all things have there end eventually, no matter how great there are. As someone once said: "Part of the journey is the end."_

**_AnnoyingSquishy1.o:_**_ I like your enthusiasm! glad you enjoy my stuff!_


	3. Tower Arrival

_**Earth - Solar System**_

**3rd person POV...**

As the Arcadia Class Jumpship makes its way in the direction of the Last City, piloted by Ghost, Sophie remains in silence as she thinks hard about things.

She's in the future... far into the future apparently, and in a post-apocalyptic world at that. Aliens have invaded the earth to cause this, wiping out nearly everything. There are no Avengers to help, no one to protect them from the aliens, and no one that she knows and loves is alive anymore. She's all alone... resurrected by some little machine to fight alien monsters in the name of some god and to protect the remains of humanity.

It's a nightmare.

Sophie's helmet has since dematerialized, much to her surprise when it happened, exposing her face for the first time since being resurrected. Her wavy brown hair flows down just past her shoulders to frame her face of light-colored skin, a bit pale due to the region she lived, and revealing her deep brown eyes.

Sophie slowly brings her hands to her face and covers her eyes to try and block her tears as she quietly sobs, slumping back in her seat. Ghost swivels around and watches her, anxiety and worry apparent in his glowing blue optic.

"Hey, Sophie... uh... how are you feeling?" he asks hesitantly.

"Horrible, what do you think?" she mutters angrily, wiping away some tears.

"Yeah, right..." he replies apologetically, uncertain of how to respond. "Do you... uh... is there anything I can do?"

"I don't know what you could do," she replies bitterly. "My whole world is gone."

"Well... if it's any consolation, I'm really sorry for your loss," Ghost tells her regretfully.

"Uh huh," she mumbles in response, hugging her legs to her chest.

After a few long seconds of silence, Ghost turns toward her with a curious gaze.

"Do you mind me asking... how much you remember? From... from your previous life?" he asks timidly.

Sophie doesn't respond for a while, much to his unease.

"It's alright if you're not comfortable with talking about it," he quickly amends. "I don't mean to intrude, it's just- very few Guardians remember much about their previous lives, and fewer remembering even their names-"

"It's ok, I don't mind," she replies, interrupting his rambling.

"Oh, good!" he replies, relieved and a little bit excited.

"I remember everything... at least everything before whatever happened that caused me to... you know, die," Sophie says awkwardly, lifting her head up in thought. "I know I wasn't old; only 23 years. The last thing I can recall... I don't know, it was something to do with, robots or something..."

"Exos?" Ghost suggests.

"What's that?" Sophie asks.

"I thought you said you-" he starts before faltering, thinking about it. "Well, maybe not then... what do you remember about your life?"

"I was happy enough, I suppose," she shrugs in response. "I've always lived in Sokovia; not entirely rich but I had a comfortable enough lifestyle, and some good friends. Though unlike most people in Sokovia, I actually respected and admired the Avengers, since they did good things-"

"Wait a minute, the Avengers?" Ghost interrupts in surprise. "As in the team of superheroes?"

"Yeah. Who else?" Sophie ask, raising an eyebrow at him. "Wait, so you're telling me you know about the Avengers but don't know who Tony Stark is?"

Ghost narrows his optics as if in thought, before brightening up in recognition.

"Oh! He was Iron Man I believe," he says.

"You don't say," she deadpans in reply.

"But, wait a minute; you're talking about the Avengers as if they were around when you were," he notices, confused.

"Uh, yeah… they were," Sophie replies, also confused.

Ghost blinks at her in bewilderment.

"What? But how could you have been-" he starts to ask incredulously, but stops himself. "…do you remember what year it was in your life?"

Sophie frowns in thought, trying to remember.

"I think it was… the last year I can remember was… 2015?" she offers in reply.

Ghost gasps in shock, staring at her with one wide optic, stunned at the revelation. Sophie notices with confusion and wariness, making a face at him.

"Is… uh, that wrong or something?" she asks cautiously.

"You were alive before the Traveler arrived…" Ghost murmurs. "You're from before the Golden Age!"

"I guess?" she replies uneasily.

"Do you realize what this means?!" he asks excitedly.

"No I don't," she says, annoyed.

"No Guardian before has ever been resurrected from before the Collapse, much less the Golden Age!" Ghost exclaims. "There's so much history you could tell us, it's incredible! We barely know anything from before the Traveler arrived aside from the Avengers and everything they did!"

Sophie blinks her eyes in bewilderment.

"Really? An entire planet full of dead people and you haven't once resurrected anyone from before… whenever it was you're talking about?" she asks.

"Never. No one knows anything about that time!" Ghost says, before faltering. "Well, aside from the Asgardian woman, but she doesn't like talking about it."

"Asgardian woman? Who's that?" Sophie asks.

"I'll explain later, we have to get you to see the Vanguard!" Ghost says, disappearing back into the ship, though his voice still echoes through the speakers. "Luckily we're almost there!"

Outside of the cockpit window, Sophie watches as the ship continues its way through the clouds. She squints her eyes and holds a hand up to block out rays of sunlight once they begin to shine through the cloud cover, but once the ship breaks free of it all, Sophie looks on in amazement and wonder at the sight.

Directly ahead of her is a massive city, much bigger than anything she's ever known or seen. Novi Grad especially would've appeared as a small speck in the midst of this massive place. Tall towers, bright lights, and many other urban wonders were visible scattered throughout the city, the tallest skyscrapers located near the center. But above it all was a single massive sphere, larger than anything she had ever seen before; Sophie was willing to bet it was the size of a small moon! It hovered above the city without any support, sporting a white outer shell that gleamed in the evening sun. A noticeable feature however was all of the large openings and breaks in the shell underneath, exposing the inner frame of the sphere. They exposed areas almost looked like deep gashes… as it something with claws had inflicted injury upon it.

Sophie had no doubt in mind that's this was the Traveler.

"Welcome to the last city on earth, the only safe haven left for humanity. Watched and protected by the Traveler," Ghost informs her. "It took centuries to build. Now… we're counting every day it stands."

"It's beautiful…" Sophie murmurs.

"Yeah. We've kept it safe for a long time. But we're actually going to the Tower," he replies.

The ship steers in the direction of a tall majestic tower on the very edge of the city, looking out over it all and in perfect view of the Traveler.

"What's the Tower?" she asks.

"It's the command center for the Vanguard, and the home of the Guardians," Ghost explains. "This is where we bring new Guardians, and where they stay and rest whenever not out in the field, battling the forces of the Darkness."

Sophie hums to herself, a little anxious at the thought of meeting new people, especially other Guardians. She's not sure what she's supposed to do, and is a little worried that other Guardians may judge her.

"We're about to exit the ship, so get ready," Ghost warns her.

He flies the ship carefully into what looks to be the Tower's hangar, and sets it into its position on a platform. Sophie freaks out for a second as her body starts dissolving into blue particles, but forces herself to relax as it happens, and suddenly finds herself standing on a platform on the side of the large hangar. She stumbles for a moment in surprise to regain her bearings, and looks around.

Ghost materializes next to Sophie, much to her relief, and she looks around to see a woman with short and messy blonde hair standing beside the railing near some sort of workstation, checking something on an electrical pad of some sort. She's clearly a mechanic, based on her outfit with a bandana and goggles, and also has splotches of dirt and oils over her. The woman looks up at the new ship and frowns with a raised eyebrow, humming at the sight.

"I don't know whether to be amused or exasperated," she remarks to herself.

The woman turns around to look at Sophie, and her eyes brighten up.

"Oh, hey there Guardian!" she greets pleasantly, making her way over. "This your ship?"

"Huh?" Sophie replies, a bit startled. "Oh, uh… yeah, yeah I guess so."

The woman raises an eyebrow, and her mouth quirks in amusement.

"Oh I see. You must be a new one huh?" she deduces.

"Yes! I just resurrected her a few hours ago!" Ghost chirps proudly in response.

"Well that must be nice, if a bit weird," the woman comments, and holds a hand out. "My name's Amanda Holiday. I run the whole business here with ships and sparrows and whatnot."

Sophie cautiously shakes her hand, wincing a little bit at the tight and very enthusiastic grip Amanda has, still a bit bewildered.

"Oh, cool… nice to meet you. I'm Sophie- Sophie Matthews," she replies.

"Huh, nice name. Sounds cute," Amanda smiles, and Sophie blushes sheepishly. "Well, why you go run ahead to the Vanguard while I get you ship looked out, alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Sophie nods.

"Good luck up there kid," Amanda says, patting the back of her shoulder encouragingly.

Sophie smiles a bit nervously to her in response and makes her way up the steps, following Ghost as he leads her out of the hangar and down a hallway.

"She seems…" she starts to say.

"Tough? Enthusiastic? Teasing?" Ghost offers.

"Yeah, lets go with that," she nods in agreement.

"That's Amanda for you. She's typically the first face new Guardians see at the Tower, so she likes to put on a good impression for them," he explains. "She's nice, although she can be demanding at times if you do something she doesn't like."

"I can imagine that," she remarks.

Sophie then walks out of the hallway to enter a small plaza, where several other people are walking around. Despite being in a tall tower there's a sense of clean natural beauty present, with grass growing in the plaza, old and wise looking trees, and granite pathways. Other people, presumably other Guardians, mill around the plaza, chatting with each other or walking to other areas, all of them fairly calm and relaxed. Sophie however is anything but, and looks at a few of the Guardians nervously.

"Uh, Ghost? What are those guys?" she asks quietly, a little unsettled.

Ghost looks around to see Sophie referring to some of the people with blue skin, or the robots walking around as if they were normal people.

"Awoken and exos," he tells her. "Awoken used to be normals humans, but at some point they ventured out just beyond the edge between the Traveler's light and the darkness, where it changed them. And the exos… they have souls just like you and me. No one knows where they came from or who built them, but its theorized that they used to be human as well, before their minds were transferred to robots."

"Really?" Sophie asks in surprise, putting aside her bewilderment about the robot/human thing for now. "Wouldn't they just… remember it?"

"Nobody remembers. Exos can go through different memory wipes over time, completely forgetting their life from before. Their designated number is how many times their memory was wiped," Ghost replies, nodding towards a blue exo standing at a vending table with weapons all around him. "Banshee over there? His memory has been wiped 44 times."

Sophie stares in shock, stunned at the idea that something like that could happen.

"Now come on, we should get going to the Vanguard. I have a feeling they'll really want to talk to you," Ghost urges.

Nodding numbly, Sophie follows Ghost through the plaza and he leads her in the direction of a staircase leading somewhere underneath. Along the way a few passing Guardians turn to look at her, and she shrinks self-consciously. A lot of them she can tell with a mere glance that they're experienced, wearing armor that stands out much more than her generic tunic and pants, and intimidating looking weapons on their belts or strapped to their backs. She's relieved when they leave the plaza and go down the stairway, walking through a very small corridor to enter a much longer and wider hallway, which opens up to what looks like a large conference room or command center at the end.

More people are milling around, quieter down here, and three of the are gathered at the long table at the very end. She cautiously follows behind Ghost as he leads her through, glancing around to see a very large Guardian, some robots, and what look like regular humans working at computers.

"That's Lord Shaxx," Ghost informs her, nodding to large Guardian. "He's in charge of the Crucible, which is where Guardians face each other in combat to train."

"Huh?" she murmurs in response, alarmed.

"Let's keep going!" he replies eagerly, not noticing her distress at the comment.

Sophie continues onwards warily, giving Lord Shaxx another nervous glance. She then notices another woman standing beside him, the two seemingly in quiet discussion. Sophie narrows her eyes curiously at the woman who, unlike Shaxx, is obviously important but doesn't seem like any of the other Guardians. She's wearing some sort of medieval armor get up with a battle skirt, metal gauntlets and medieval combat boots, a sword strapped to her back. Her hair is dark brown and wavy, falling down past her shoulders, and she looks to be in her forties, maybe fifties, for age. As if noticing her gaze the woman looks up to stare back, narrowing her eyes, and Sophie quickly averts her eyes with a quiet gasp.

"Come on Sophie!" Ghost urges.

Sophie wastes no time in continuing onwards, feeling the stare of that medieval woman following her. Once she enters what looks like the 'conference room' Ghost leads her down a few steps and over to the long table, where three more Guardians are chatting in quiet voices with each other. Ghost interrupts by clearing his throat, which has Sophie frowning in confusion.

Her floating little machine companion can clear his throat?

"Excuse me, uh, Vanguard?" he chirps hopefully.

"I'm afraid we're busy at the moment, so come back later," the awoken man at the end of the table says without looking up, his voice booming and deep.

"It's very important though, I insist!" Ghost chirps confidently.

"We don't have time right now-" the awoken man replies firmly.

"Aw come on Zavala, sure we've got time!" the exo man interrupts. "It's not like all of this planning stuff is going anywhere!"

"Cayde…" the woman sighs in exasperation.

"What? Surely you agree with me on this Ikora!" Cayde says, sounding appalled.

'Cayde' turns around to face Sophie and Ghost with a wide and mischievous smile on his face, the expression startling her. He's wearing what looks to be a survival outdoors get-up, with a hood and cape to add to it. His metal face is blue with some hints of yellow, his mouth lighting up orange when he speaks, and a horn protrudes from his forehead.

"Hey there kiddo, how can we help you guys out?" he asks charmingly.

"I'm here to introduce our newest Guardian!" Ghost says proudly.

Sophie shrinks timidly a little bit when the other turn look up from their work to stare at her, curiosity running through the gaze, and 'Zavala' hums with a small frown on his face. He's a large man with bulky shiny armor that seems to also display a level of importance, like that of a commander in the middle of a battlefield. The woman, 'Ikora,' on the other hand seems less like a warrior and more of a librarian, wearing deep purple robes similar in style to Sophie's own, although they are much more royal and fancy than hers. She also has a few necklaces around her neck, and when Sophie looks in her eyes it feels like she's looking into a well of intense wisdom, mystery, and knowledge, and she's forced to look away.

"A new Guardian?" Ikora remarks.

"I suppose this is more important… for the moment," Zavala grunts.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" Cayde says triumphantly before turning to face her. "Nice to meet you kid, I'm Cayde-6. I'm responsible for all of the Hunters around here and, widely known fact, the coolest one on the Vanguard. That's Ikora Rey, the know-it-all, but amusing, librarian, and the serious guy that sucks all the fun out of you is Commander Zavala."

Ikora rolls her eyes while Zavala just shakes his head in annoyance.

"Oh, uh… nice to meet you," Sophie replies uneasily. "I'm Sophie. Sophie Matthews."

"Sophie? Sounds adorable. Very feminine, very cute. Makes me think of dolls. I like it," Cayde comments, and Ikora scoffs at him.

"And that, Cayde, is precisely why you will never get a date," she tells him.

"What?! I'm handsome! You know Amanda likes me!" he retorts incredulously. "Hey, Sophie, you think I'm handsome, right?"

"Uhh…" Sophie replies awkwardly.

"Cayde!" Zavala snaps.

"You don't have to answer," Ikora reassures Sophie. "I'm sure you must be a bit unnerved with everything that's going on right now."

"Yeah, a little bit," she confirms.

"Ghost, any important details of your journey here?" Zavala questions.

"I found Sophie over in Old Sokovia. We were chased by a pack of Fallen but managed to fight them off," Ghost reports. "However, not only Fallen skiffs but also a ketch as well came down to the surface."

"To the surface?" Cayde asks, sounding surprised. "Like... how close?"

"Very close," he emphasizes.

The vanguard all share concerned glances with each other, and Zavala frowns at the information.

"Old Sokovia is run by the House of Devils, and for them to bring ships to the surface is a very bold move," he comments thoughtfully. "That certainly warrants an investigation."

"Indeed. Just seeing a Ketch by itself is rare," Ikora says in agreement.

"I guess I can wrangle a team of Hunters together and have them scope out the area," Cayde suggests. "I could lead them."

"Assemble that scout team," Zavala says, agreeing with the idea. "But you, Cayde, will be remaining here. Your job with the Vanguard is much more important."

"Ugh, come on. This again?" he sighs in annoyance. "Every time..."

"Anything else, Ghost?" Ikora asks.

"Actually, yes! And this is earth shattering news!" he says excitedly.

"Not literally, I hope," Cayde jokes.

"Sophie here, has retained nearly all of her memory of her life, and she lived in a time before the Golden Age!" Ghost reveals. "In fact, before the Traveler even arrived on earth! She lived during the time of the Avengers!"

If the Vanguard were expecting something really surprising, then that wasn't it. They weren't just surprised, they were shocked. All three of them widened their eyes and switched their gaze from Ghost to Sophie and, for once, Cayde was at a loss for words. Sophie shrunk inwards a bit more out of nervousness, offering a sheepish smile to them.

"Haha... yeah, apparently," she says slowly.

"You're kidding, right?" Cayde asks dryly, before chuckling. "Because that's a good one."

"No, I'm serious! She really did live before the Traveler arrived, and has also managed to retain nearly all of her memory," Ghost insists. "The only thing she can't seem to recall exactly is what led to her death."

"Is this true?" Ikora asks with a firm look, her gaze focused on Sophie. "Did you really live in a time period before the Traveler was in the earth?"

"And during the Avengers Era?" Cayde adds curiously.

"Uh, yeah..." she starts to say.

"You lived in the time of the Avengers?" another voice asks.

Sophie jumps momentarily, startled at the new voice, and quickly turns around to see someone standing a few feet behind her. It was the medieval woman standing next to Lord Shaxx, and she was staring at Sophie with an unreadable, but intense gaze that made Sophie squirm uncontrollably.

"Uh... yeah, I did," she replies anxiously. "I lived in Sokovia for my whole life. The last year I remember was 2015."

The woman continues to stare at her, and Sophie's unsure of how to continue.

"Lady Sif, do you know her?" Zavala questions.

Sophie frowns thoughtfully, recognizing the name.

"Sif..." she murmurs, widening her eyes in realization. "...Lady Sif...?"

Sif glances at Zavala for a moment, her expression still unreadable, before leveling another long stare at Sophie, eyes narrowed in thought.

"She does not lie," Sif finally nods. "But I do not know her."

"Huh. Well what do you know," Cayde muses, a bit amused and very intrigued.

"You're Lady Sif... from Norse mythology!" Sophie says in amazement. "Then that means you know Thor! That's awesome!"

Sif stiffens up for a moment before relaxing, but despite the very brief reaction Sophie still noticed, her smile faltering.

"I _knew _him..." Sif murmurs quietly in response.

Without another word Sif turns around and walks away, much to Sophie's confusion and nervousness. She glances back at the others for help, noticing the looks of sadness on the faces of all three of the Vanguard.

"Did I say something... wrong?" she asks cautiously.

"It's not your fault kid," Cayde reassures her, forgoing his typical jokester attitude.

"When the Darkness came for us, it took everything humanity had to fight it off, and even then it wasn't enough," Ikora explains sadly. "Asgardians lived on earth after their Ragnarok happened, so they took part in the battle against the Darkness. It was... disastrous."

"Lady Sif was the only Asgardian survivor of the Collapse," Zavala states grimly.

Sophie looks at them in surprise and stares off after Sif's retreating figure sadly, unsure of what to think.

"Oh..." she murmurs. "So she's the... last Asgardian?"

"Basically. I mean since the Collapse she helped form a new community of them, although they're only half-asgardian, but in terms of a complete and pure blooded Asgardian, she's the last," Cayde adds with a sigh.

"Sif rarely ever talks about her life, so we don't know much about what earth was like before, since so much of our history was lost in the Collapse," Ikora says. "Losing her people... it was hard on her, that much I do know. She carries the guilt of being the lone survivor."

"It's awful..." Cayde sighs.

Sophie shares a concerned look with Ghost and looks back to see Sif walking up the stairs to leave the hallway, disappearing from view. She can't imagine what Sif must've felt when she lost everything. It was hard enough for her to wake up and find out the world she knew was gone, but Sif experienced it personally. She swallows the lump in her throat, unsure of what to say.

"So," Zavala says, regaining her attention. "While it is a remarkable thing to know you were alive before the Traveler arrived, you are here now, and need to begin your journey as a newborn Guardian, just like any others that have come before you."

"Ok- yes, sir," she says, nodding.

"What you'll need is some new equipment. Amanda's bound to be working on getting a ship for you right now..." Cayde starts to say.

"I, uh, have a ship," Sophie interrupts awkwardly. "Ghost and I found it in Sokovia, and managed to repair it."

"You mean I repaired it," Ghost chirps, and Sophie can't help but scoff.

"You found a ship capable of flying in that junkyard?" Cayde asks incredulously, giving them a look. "Bless Amanda's soul, she's gonna have a field trip with that trash heap..."

Sophie doesn't know whether to agree or feel offended.

"Well anyways, you'll also need a new outfit," Cayde comments cheerfully. "I'm sure hoping you'll make a good Hun-"

"She's a warlock, Cayde. I can sense it," Ikora interrupts firmly.

"Really?" he blinks, frowning. "Well that's disappointing."

"Cayde," Zavala says warningly.

"You'll need a new set of warlock robes," Ikora continues, looking at her outfit. "Your Ghost did well in creating your makeshift set, but it won't do well against the many dangers you will be facing."

"Where am I supposed to get more?" Sophie asks.

"For better robes and weapons, you'll have to purchase them using glimmer; it's a form of digital currency. You can earn it by completing missions, bounties, or selling something you already own," Ikora explains, and Sophie frowns uneasily at the information. "For now though, I'll bring you a new set of robes later just to help get you started."

"Thanks," she says.

"And as for your weapons, it's much the same as with your robes and armor," Zavala adds. "There is a large variety of weapons to choose from."

"What do you have right now?" Cayde asks.

"She has a Preacher MK.22 shotgun, and an old Khvostov 7G-02 assault rifle!" Ghost states.

"A what?" he asks, bewildered.

The Khvostov rifle suddenly materializes into Sophie's hands, and she fumbles with it for a moment in surprise before holding it up, glancing around.

"The heck-?" Cayde murmurs incredulously.

He walks over and snatches the rifle from Sophie, analyzing it, holding it up and aiming down the cracked sight screen.

"You fought through a pack of Fallen using this thing?" he says in bewilderment, scoffing. "Huh. Well that certainly takes some talent."

"I... played a lot of Halo..." Sophie murmurs sheepishly.

"Oh really? Nice. Kinda funny how that's real life now huh?" he remarks casually, handing the rifle back.

"Wait, you know what Halo is?" Sophie asks, surprised.

"Leave it to Cayde to know about some ancient earth game nobody else knows," Ikora sighs.

"I happen to enjoy knowing these things," Cayde replies proudly.

"Miss Matthews," Zavala says. "Seeing as you're in need of a new primary weapon, use this card to purchase one from Banshee-44, who you may have seen just outside of the Hall."

Zavala walks over while he was talking and hands out a small, white metal card to Sophie. She takes it and looks at it for a moment, nodding her head.

"A room for you to stay in will be ready for you by now. You can get some rest, and then begin gathering your equipment tomorrow," Ikora tells her.

"Ok... thank you," she nods gratefully.

"Good luck Guardian! I got high hopes for you," Cayde says, grinning at her.

Sophie smiles back at him, not feeling as uneasy or anxious in their presence anymore.

"Hey, Calvin!" Cayde calls out, waving an arm. "Come here for a second!"

One of the technicians working at a computer nearby looks up upon being called, and then makes his way over to them. He's average in height, with sandy blonde hair and a very thin beard on his face, and blue eyes. He also seems to be fairly athletic: not muscular, but well enough in shape.

"Yes sir?" he asks.

"Seriously? 'Yes sir,'" Cayde scoffs, mimicking his response. "Who am I, Zavala?"

Zavala shakes his head with an annoyed grumble, but Calvin does crack a small smile at the joke.

"So here's the deal. We've got a new Guardian right here, her name's Sophie. All that fun stuff, whatever," Cayde continues, waving a hand dismissively. "She needs a place to crash, so I need you to show her to her apartment room. It'll be in Level G."

"Ok, no problem," Calvin nods.

"Great!" he beams. "Now get out of here, I got stuff to do. Don't get real crazy together, alright?"

Calvin rolls his eyes in exasperation at the joke, and turns to face Sophie.

"Shall we?" he asks politely.

"Um, sure," she replies, feeling awkward.

She follows Calvin as he starts walking out of the large room, moving to stand beside him. They exit the Hall of Guardians and then walk up the stairs to the open entryway at the back of the plaza, entering another, more simple, courtyard. As Calvin leads her down the courtyard and to another hallway off to the side, Sophie fiddles with her hands nervously, Ghost having dematerialized back into her head.

Wow, that was a weird thought.

She wasn't the best at chatting with people she didn't know, and so wasn't sure where to start with this Calvin guy. Fortunately for her he decides to start the conversation himself, much to her relief.

"So... I heard you're from the pre-Traveler Era?" he asks slowly, a little hesitant.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am," she confirms.

"That's crazy. I never knew Guardians could be brought back from that time," he comments, looking at her curiously. "We barely know anything about it."

"What do you know?" Sophie asks.

"Well we know about the Avengers of course, that history was pretty hard to forget," he shrugs, becoming thoughtful. "Basically what I know is how the Avengers were formed for the Battle of New York, the Black Zero Event, the Civil War thing, the Battle of Sokovia..."

Sophie widens her eyes at hearing the last term, a sudden memory coming to her.

_It's absolute chaos. _

_Robots are flying everywhere, people are getting shot by blue lasers, and she's running desperately through the street._

_She'd caught glimpses of the Avengers fighting the robots: Captain America using his shield, Iron Man flying around, Fulcrum wielding a lightsaber, Wonder Woman with a sword..._

_And all the while, the entire city seems to be rising off the ground, getting higher..._

Sophie stands completely still with wide eyes, shaken by the sudden memory. She could also sense Ghost's presence feeling worried for her, startled by her memory as well.

"...and the whole 'Infinity War' against Thanos," Calvin continues casually.

He glances to his side and then comes to a stop when he realizes she wasn't walking beside him. He turns to look at her, concern etched in his expression.

"Hey, you alright?" he asks.

"Y-Yeah, I'm alright," she replies reassuringly, shaking her head. "Just a little overwhelmed."

Calvin looks at her, not fully believing her, but let's it go.

"Alright, I guess that makes sense," he comments, and they continue walking. "I can't really imagine what you must be feeling. Going from a pre-Traveler earth to what we have now? Must be tough."

"Uh huh. I'm adjusting though... as best I can at least," she shrugs in reply.

"That's good to know," he replies, thinking for a moment. "What was it like? Before you... y'know."

He gestures awkwardly with his hands, unsure of how to say it without being insensitive.

"It was nice," she says, understanding the meaning. "I don't know how things work here, but for me it was normal. I grew up in Sokovia and lived there my whole life, had friends, got a job, typical stuff."

"I guess you'll be glad to know that lifestyle hasn't changed much," he smiles. "I'm much the same, I guess. I work for the Vanguard in the Tower's communications network, making sure that transmissions between Guardians remain strong."

"Sounds cool," Sophie remarks. "Where do you live?"

"Not far from the Tower, thankfully. It's not the greatest place, since I'm doing most of the financial support, but it's good enough," he says.

"Really? I would've thought working for the Vanguard would pay better," Sophie says, frowning.

"Well, there's a lot of stuff to deal with, so it makes sense. Glimmer isn't infinite, unfortunately," he replies with a shrug. "Well, here we are."

They both come to a halt in the middle of a hallway, and Calvin gestures to a door. He waves a card in front of a scanner and the door unlocks, allowing for him to push it open.

"Here's your place. Get settled in, so whatever you need to do. I'm pretty sure the Vanguard have got you covered for tomorrow," he says.

"Ok. Thank you," Sophie says, looking at him. "It was nice talking to you."

"Same," he replies, smiling. "Guess I'll see you around."

They both share a quick smile, and then Calvin gives her the room key and heads off. Sophie watches him go for a moment before entering her room, shutting the door behind her. She presses what looks to be a light switch on the wall, and the lights come flickering on.

The room itself is very simple and compact, but still seemed to have plenty of space for necessary functions, and was much more modern than anything she was familiar with. A simple bed sat against the wall, with a small table and kitchenette area on the other side. A window at the opposite end of the room revealed a stunning view of the city as well as the Traveler, which was now bathed in orange light from the setting sun. There was also a small couch in the middle of the room with a screen set on top of a storage cabinet. To her right was a door that led into the bathroom.

Overall, it looked like any typical hotel room she'd expect back in her time, only a lot more modernized, with an almost alien-like scenery outside the window.

While she was busy checking out her new room, Ghost materialized into being right next to her, making her jump.

"Gah! Don't do that!" she exclaims.

"Do what?" he asks, confused.

"You- never mind," she groans.

"So, how do you feel about our new place?" he asks her.

"It's ok. A lot more modern than what I'm used to," she shrugs.

"Uh huh," he replies, not understanding the term. "Well, I think you should get ready for bed soon. Tomorrow is going to be busy with getting you all set up and ready for action!"

Sophie sighs, glancing away from him and down at the floor.

She still doesn't know how to feel about everything, and she wishes that she wasn't mixed up with this. Still, she nods her head to let Ghost know she understands.

She's here now, and it doesn't seem like anything is going to change. Might as well make the most of what she has.

* * *

_She runs amongst the sea of people in a panic, chaos happening all around her. _

_Metal robots are attacking the city, which itself is actually rising into the air! The entire city is lifting off the ground, buildings and debris falling everywhere. Reaching what seems to be a safe distance, she turns around with the crowd to stare up in horror at the rising city._

**_"Do you see, the beauty of it? The inevitability. You rise… only to fall."_**

_Screams from behind get her attention, she and several others turning around to see several flying robots mowing people down with their laser guns. She gasps in fear and starts running, everyone else following suit._

**_"You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword and the Earth will crack, with the weight of your failure."_**

_She ducks her head with a terrified yelp as several blue lasers soar overhead, narrowly missing her. _

_The earth seems to shake as a large section of the floating city falls to the ground, causing her to stumble. She scrambles wildly, looking up and widening her eyes in terror as a building falls over and off the side of the city._

**_"Purge me from your computers; turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world…"_**

_Even more terrified screams fill the air as she scrambles to get to her feet and tries to make a run for it, her own voice lost amongst the others. However, she's unable to run away fast enough, and looks back up just as the building crashes into the ground right on top of her._

**_"...will be metal."_**

_There's a moment of complete agony and pain..._

_Then there's darkness._

* * *

Sophie shoots out of bed with a gasp, panting heavily as she tries to catch her breath. She brings a hand to her chest and does her best to calm her breathing, settling down after a few seconds. Looking to her right, she sees Ghost is still sitting still in rest, his blue optic closed. Sophie lets out a shaky breath, bringing a hand down her face as she struggles to come to terms with her new life, and what she just saw.

...She died.

She knows she died and yet... it's still hard to comprehend. She was crushed underneath a building during the chaos and yet is still alive now, centuries into the future. She died because of that... that robot attack.

Whatever that robot was, Sophie doesn't know, but she remembers being absolutely terrified. The entire city was lifting into the air while robots attacked everyone and everything, flying around relentlessly. The Avengers were there, trying to fight them back, but there was just too many of them. And while the robot gave a speech, speaking in that cold, spine-chilling voice that leaves her shivering in fear even now, she was killed by a falling building.

Shaken by the resurgent memory, Sophie slips her feet out of bed and pulls on her boots, throwing a cloak that was given in the apartment on. Walking to the door, she opens it and makes her way out.

Sophie walks down the hallways and exits the Guardian housing complex, finding herself in an area that was labeled as 'Tower North.' Exposed to the night sky she feels how cold it is at this high elevation, recognizing that it is also the winter season. Because of where she grew up, cold wasn't that uncomfortable for her, and with her cloak on she felt fine. Sophie looks around the empty area, shying away from a few robots that looked to be responsible for cleaning and maintenance, and walked out to the balcony.

Everything was made of stone here, and if it wasn't for the city skyline she could've imagine it as some 'Middle Ages' location, what with all the market areas and banners lying around. Close to one side of the balcony is a pathway that leads into some sort of observatory, and she walks inside. The observatory was a wide open space that gave a clear view of the Traveler, which was lit up by all of the city lights around it, and the night sky above her. Some sort of large metal device with many different rings say in the center of the room, moving around slowly.

Sophie watches the device move with curiosity, allowing the scenery to help her calm down. The moon shone brightly above her, and a light fixture on the ceiling allowed her plenty of light to see.

"Having trouble sleeping, young Guardian?" a calm voice asks.

Sophie widens her eyes in surprise and quickly turns around to see a man walking down a staircase behind her, which led to some sort of library or study area above. The man was wearing large pure white robes, along with a white mask that completely covered his face, leaving her unable to gauge his expression.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to barge into your place-" Sophie stammers in apology.

"It's alright my dear, there's no apology needed," he reassure her, raising a placating hand. "Tell me, what is troubling you?"

Sophie doesn't respond at first, unsure of how to respond to him.

"Well... I'm scared," she finally admits. "My old life is gone, and now I'm in an apocalyptic future where humanity is nearly extinct."

"You're afraid of this new world, and you want to go back to your old life," the man says knowingly. "All Guardians who remember share those same fears."

"I just can't believe it... I died. The Avengers were fighting a war in my home city against that robot, and I died..." Sophie whispers.

"Because of Ultron, the one the Avengers were fighting," he tells her gently. "It's always regretful that those chosen to be Guardians often have to forsake their previous lives. But, there is a future to look for, if you are willing."

"What... kind, of future?" she asks him.

"...There was a time, when we were much more powerful," he says softly, taking a moment to look out at the Traveler. "Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for the Traveler. And it chose you, Sophie Matthews, to be a Guardian."

"Why? I'm not... I'm not a fighter," she protests.

"Many Guardians weren't fighters either. Your worth is not about how skilled you were in battle, but about how much light you carry," Speaker says. "The Traveler chooses those it feels are worthy of its power, so that they may protect humanity, now that it cannot."

Sophie looks out at the Traveler, noting the apparent injuries it seems to have.

"What happened to it?" she asks.

"The Darkness came. The Traveler's ancient enemy," Speaker says grimly. "Even with all of our advancements, we were still seriously unprepared and hopelessly insignificant in the face of such raw power. Not even Thor Odinson or Diana of Themyscira were able defeat such evil. As such, they sadly gave their lives in defense of humanity."

A lump forms in Sophie's throat as she listens to the story, struggling to withhold her sorrow at hearing two people she once thought of as powerful, but compassionate individuals now being dead.

"I could tell you of the great battles that took place, centuries ago. I could tell what more about the nature of the Darkness, and what it truly is," Speaker says mournfully, sighing. "But that was long ago, and no longer matters."

Sophie glances at him with a subdued gaze, unsure of what to say.

"There are many tales, told throughout the City to frighten children. Lately those tales have stopped. Now... the children are frightened anyway," the Speaker says. He lets out a sad sigh and then turns to face her. "The Darkness is coming back, Sophie. We won't survive it this time."

Sophie stares at him with wide eyes in fear at the revelation, looking up at the night sky once more.

"It is?" she asks quietly, afraid of the answer.

"The Fallen are just the beginning. There are many other dangers out there that we must face. The armies of the Darkness are already beginning to surround us," he tells her grimly, much to her fright. "But there is still hope. Nothing is ever as bleak as it may seem, and if we prevent the Darkness from regaining full strength, then we will survive."

"I'm just a random girl! My only experience with fighting is through video games!" Sophie exclaims incredulously. "If even Thor and Wonder Woman couldn't fight the Darkness the first time around, then what the heck am I supposed to do?"

"Be a Guardian. A protector," he replies firmly, turning to look at her. "The Traveler sacrificed itself to force the Darkness back. And in its dying breath, it created the Ghosts to seek out those with its light, so they could wield it against the forces of evil. You carry that light inside you, and you can accomplish many great things with it. But only if you allow yourself to believe that you can make a difference."

Sophie looks down at her feet in deep thought, glancing up to stare at the Traveler, which hovers silently in the sky. She's silent for a long time, trying to overcome her fear and think through things more rationally, taking a deep breath.

"Alright... okay..." she murmurs, shutting her eyes tightly for a moment before opening them. "So what can I do?"

Speaker turns around to face her, smiling underneath his mask.

"You must push back the Darkness. Like the Avengers did long ago in your time, you can protect the world too," Speaker tells her. "And you won't be alone. Guardians are fighting here and beyond. Join them. Your Ghost will guide you."

"Okay," Sophie says, nodding her head.

"I know things may seem difficult for you, Sophie, but always remember to look for the light. You can shape your own destiny in the way that you wish," he adds.

"I'll... do my best," she replies, looking up at him. "Thank you."

"It is always a blessing to help new Guardians find their way," Speaker nods his head at her, moving away. "I hope you find yours as well."

Sophie watches him ascend the steps back into his library, deep in her own thoughts. Now that she's a Guardian, she can't imagine what sorts of things she'll be going through. She'll just have to wait and see what the morning brings for her.


	4. (important notice)

_**Important Notice:** Hello readers! Sorry for the late uploading schedule (once again) but I've been distracted by other things going on in my life lately. I've also come to an important decision that I think needs to be addressed regarding my stories. I've decided to put everything else on hold so that I can finish the Legacy of Jarik Shan series, as it's taken a lot longer than I originally anticipated._

_Part of this comes from the fact that maintaining my focus between several stories all at once is really hard to do, while also maintaining a continuous upload schedule. Not to mention the longer it takes to finish this story, the more it hinders my ability to progress and do things in others, specifically the Reylea storyline. There's even something in 'Secrets of Jinn' that ties directly into my plans for what the Sequel era will be like in the Shaniverse, and I don't really want to spoil it prematurely. (in Mysteries of Reylea, dancing around certain things to try and not spoil LOJS V5 is becoming a bit frustrating, and I don't think it helps that story to avoid things like this)_

_So anyways, all of my stories aside from the Legacy of Jarik Shan (V5 of course, then V2 and V1), is not going to receive any more updates until I finish V5. It may be a bit disappointing, but I think this is the best way to move forward without ruining the overall storyline. There are things that will be revealed in V5 that are absolutely essential to know for everything to make sense going forward. __I hope you all will understand my reasoning, and here's to hoping I can finish up V5 very soon! I'm planning to have it completed at the very latest by the end of the summer._

* * *

_**Author's Note: **This update message will be removed once "LOJS V5: Rebirth" is completed._


End file.
